Book Group Assignment #4

Book Group #4: Focus on Theme or Author’s Craft

For our last book club meeting, you will have a choice: you may focus on either the theme of your book, or on the author’s craft. Write a final literature letter to your book club.

If you decide to focus on a theme, your letter should address some or all of the following:

•What did you learn from reading this book?

•What was the book’s overall influence on you?

•What do you feel is the main theme, or moral, of the book?

•Was the theme obvious to you, or did you have to dig deeply for it?

If you decide to focus on author’s craft, your letter should discuss the specific genre of your book (adventure, mystery, science fiction, etc.) Describe the basic characteristic of the genre. Find examples that show how the author uses the genre to effectively make the story come alive.

Your letter should also address some or all of the following:

The author’s word choice

The author’s use of different types of sentences

Descriptive and/or figurative language

Use of dialogue

Choices made by the author in structuring the book (multiple points of view, flashback, multiple timelines, 1st person narrator vs. 3rd person narrator, present tense vs. past tense etc. )

Be sure to flag some examples in the book so that you will be able to share them with your book club.

SAMPLE BOOK CLUB LETTER: USE OF COGNITIVE STRATEGIES

Dear Book Club,

As I read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros I began using the cognitive strategies in my tool kit by immediately making connections. The house Esperanza’s family finally owned simply wasn’t good enough. I can definitely relate to this. So often I want something better but will then decide I have to be satisfied with what I have for now; just like Esperanza did.

Early in the novel I adopted an alignment. Esperanza disliked both her house and Mango Street, but she made the best of things. She had a sister that she hadn’t chosen as she would a best friend, but Esperanza knew she was obliged to take care of her. She made friends on the street and enjoyed life’s experiences.

Each of the vignettes or short chapters brought new experiences to Esperanza. They were told in such a lively fashion that I found myself visualizing and even laughing out loud at the humor some portrayed.

I even made a prediction as I read; that Esperanza would succeed and move away from Mango Street . I do not know if that prediction will come true as the book ends with Esperanza still young, still on Mango Street.

I found myself reflecting and relating at times during my reading. I could relate the stories some friends have told me to this book. I guess I could also say I made connections. Some girls can hardly wait to leave their families. Their fathers are too strict or too cruel or too something. They then married far too young and simply exchange one form of cruelty for another. This happened to Sally on Mango Street. It makes me wonder why someone isn’t watching out for girls like this. Why don’t the mothers get them help.

At the end of the book, there are still questions. When will Esperanza escape? Will she escape? Will she come back to help others escape? Who are those others she wants to help?